1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for extending performance of media cartridge radio frequency identification.
2. Background Art
Radio frequency identification (RFID) and data storage protocols are designed into new generation tape drives and media cartridges. An RFID “tag” (or transponder and non-volatile memory) is implemented into each media cartridge. The RFID tag provides for assignment of unique identification information to individual cartridges and the information stored in the respective media. The RFID tags are electromagnetically read from and written to by a read/write device. The read/write device can be implemented in connection with at least one of a tape (or media) transport and a media library robotic retrieval arm assembly.
Referring to FIG. 1a, a diagram of a conventional media cartridge and RFID read/write system 10 is shown. The system 10 includes a media (e.g., tape) cartridge 12 having an RFID tag 20 that is read from and written to by a read/write device 14 that is implemented in connection with a robot arm (not shown). The read/write device 14 includes an antenna 30 connected to read/write circuitry 32.
The conventional system 10 generally operates at a nominal frequency of 13.56 MHZ with the RFID tag (e.g., transponder and non-volatile memory) 20 and the antenna 30 in relatively close proximity (i.e., typically less than 2.74 cm of separation). However, a tape transport read/write device (not shown) accesses the cartridge 12 from a different direction than does the robot arm. As such, an antenna for the tape transport read/write device can not typically access the RFID 20 within a nominal design distance (i.e., less than 2.74 cm of separation), and reliable operation of the system 10 can be difficult to achieve.
Referring to FIG. 1b, a diagram of another conventional media cartridge and read/write device system 10′ is shown. The system 10′ attempts to overcome some of the deficiencies of the system 10. A media (e.g., tape) cartridge 12′ includes two separated RFID tags. An RFID tag 20a is read from and written to by a read/write device 14a that is implemented in connection with a tape transport (not shown), and an RFID tag 20b is read from and written to by a read/write device 14b that is implemented in connection with a robot arm (not shown). The read/write devices 14 include respective antennas 30 connected to read/write circuitry 32.
The conventional system 10′ generally provides for the antennas 30 to maintain the relatively close proximity (i.e., typically less than 2.74 cm of separation) to respective RFID tags 20 during normal operation, however, the system 10′ generally still has reliability deficiencies because differing information can be stored on the separate RFID tags 20a and 20b. Further, the cost of additional RFID tags for a media cartridge can be a significant expense, and the cost premium of the cartridge 12′ can be a significant inhibitor to sales and user implementation.
Thus there exists an opportunity and need for an improved system and method for cost effectively extending the physical range of performance of media cartridge radio frequency identification.